The USA Is A Monster - Wohaw (2005)

Concept albums by American rock bands about the history and fate of the Native American tribes seem like something that would be from the '70s -- but as Wohaw demonstrates, perception does not always equal reality. On the one hand, the USA Is a Monster's second album does sound like what one might expect from Load -- opening track "Clay People" is all squally, trebly guitar, rampaging drum clatter, and vocal chants and invocations, for instance. But as the album progresses it's clear that the duo has no intention of limiting itself, while at the same time being dead serious about the album's theme, at least handled better than other more clumsy efforts in the past. Members Tom Hohmann and Colin Langevin have a photo in the cover art that looks like it could have been taken in 1971 for Tr d, Gr s och Stenar -- amps piled to the sky in a forest, the two cross-legged in front of them playing instruments. It's a telling touch, tapping into a heritage of cosmic/electric/back-to-nature bands while still being a "noise" band in a more modern sense; the time- and arrangement-shifting "Tecumseh" veers from meditative keyboards to full-band drum gallops and feedback. Langevin's generally dry vocal style varies throughout the album, from rapid, rhythmic spoken word to gentler singing, but in general manages the trick of delivering often tangled, involved lyrics in a way that sounds good for each song. It's not always easy -- trying to pack in a history lesson about art and perception in the delicate folk of "George Catlin and the Mandan Chief" isn't simple, but they pull it off and make a beautiful song out of it. If there's a limitation to the album -- perhaps intentional -- it's the way a heck of a lot of the drumming comes across as "tribal" in a generic sense, but the way "Riff Scientist" veers from that to hyper-speed punk, among other similar shifts elsewhere, keeps things varied. Best song title: "All the World's Leaders Must Die." ~ Ned Raggett, Rovi